Principal Brian Andrews learned about it Wednesday evening and immediately pulled the plug.

Madison Fantozzi @madisonfantozzi

LAKELAND — A fundraiser that would have allowed students to skip the lunch line for a $100 donation upset some parents at Lawton Chiles Middle Academy this week.

The Parent Teacher Student Association sent students home from orientation with a slip soliciting family and business sponsors.

For $50, the family's last name would be featured on the school's website. For $50 more, their student could get a "front of the lunch line pass."

Parent Chris Stephenson posted the slip on his Facebook page Wednesday and said because of the fundraiser this will be the first year he will not give money to the PTSA.

"The last thing middle schoolers need is establishing a food hierarchy. They have enough problems as it is," he wrote.

Dozens of parents, Polk County residents and even Polk County School Board member Billy Townsend chimed in on the post about the fundraiser, which is now a no-go since Brian Andrews, the school's principal, learned about it Wednesday evening.

After being tagged by another Facebook user, Townsend responded on the post to the angry parents and residents by asking that they "not burn anything down, yet, please. I'll look into it."

Andrews said fundraisers and school materials are supposed to be approved by him, but somehow the slip didn't make it to his desk before it was distributed.

"As a parent of two students here, I was not very happy," Andrews said. "This is my fourth year here and I try to be as inclusive as possible of all kids.

"This is not something that we support here," he added. "Nobody's a second-class citizen here."

Jil Bevis, PTSA's president, couldn't be reached for comment, but issued a statement on the incident.

"We strive to look for new and innovative fundraising ideas to enhance the school experience for our students," Bevis wrote. "This family and business sponsorship program was explored, but we decided to not implement. Due to a clerical error, the form was inadvertently included in the orientation packets."

"I do not approve of any donation that is tied to any student advantage or privilege on campus," he wrote.

Stephenson, the parent of a sixth-grader, is happy the principal moved quickly to take care of the issue.

"But I need to feel confident that the money I'm donating is going to the benefit of all the students, not just the ones who had parents with a little more financial freedom," Stephenson said. "I can understand that it was a remarkably stupid mistake, one done without the first thought ... but there was an entire system that failed to catch it."

Andrews called the situation unfortunate.

"Frankly, at this point, it happened," he said. "Fixing it was the most important thing to me and I think we did the best we could with that."

Madison Fantozzi can be reached at madison.fantozzi@theledger.com or 863-401-6971. Follow her on Twitter @madisonfantozzi.